STARKVILLE — The city’s Parks and Recreation Department is reporting record highs of participation and revenue for the fiscal year.
General Manager Brandon Doherty reported during a Friday aldermen work session the high demand may soon exceed the department’s current facilities.
He also presented aldermen an annual review from Sports Facilities Management, the private firm that started overseeing parks management in October 2021.
Doherty said participation in parks programming is up from 2,000 participants last year to more than 3,000 this year. Doherty also told The Dispatch revenue has grown from about $300,000 in Fiscal Year 2022 to roughly $400,000 this fiscal year.
“It’s the most revenue Starkville has seen in Parks and Rec,” Doherty said. “And … we still have another quarter to go.”
Doherty said the growth of citizens’ participation is partially due to marketing tools provided by Sports Facilities Management since the third-party contractor took over the department’s oversight.
But Doherty said the department has also diversified its programming and expanded its sports leagues while waiting for Cornerstone Park to open, giving citizens more ways to get involved in park activities. This included a new soccer program and a growing adult softball league.
“The delay of Cornerstone has hampered us in some areas but has provided opportunities in others,” Doherty said. “As we had to pivot away from Cornerstone because of the delays in opening, we really focused on expanding our programs, getting more engagement into the community.”
The $20-million-plus Cornerstone Park baseball complex was originally slated to open as early as 2022, but delays in construction have prevented the park from holding a grand opening. Despite a soft opening in May, Cornerstone is still closed to the public.
Doherty said the anticipation of Cornerstone opening has been a struggle for the department, as it has carried expenses for the unopened complex throughout the year. But after the park is fully operational, he anticipates breaking even more records.
“When Cornerstone comes online, I think we’re going to see Parks and Rec go to another level,” Doherty. “I think we’ll see more record highs next year.”
Even with the baseball complex slated to open in late summer, Doherty warned aldermen about the department’s ability to keep up with demand with its current space constraints. This included Cornerstone, but also other parks, like the Sportsplex.
“We have limited areas to participate in,” Doherty said. “The Sportsplex, the gymnasium is an example. We only have so much time in a day that we can hold sports. January through March basically is basketball. … If you wanted to add anything else in there … you can’t do that, because we just don’t have enough space.”
Mayor Lynn Spruill asked about a divider slated to be added to the gym later this month, and whether the divider will help with providing more opportunities for scheduling activities.
Doherty said the divider will allow the gymnasium to hold multiple activities at once, but will not fix the capacity issues when it comes to hosting bigger events or more youth sports programs. He said by next year, the building may be “capped out.”
Doherty told The Dispatch he is already “putting feelers out” for opportunities for new spaces for the department over the next few years.
Spruill said she is excited by the level of interest in the parks department citizens have been showing and by the growth of the department as a whole.
“We’re getting a high level of interest and I love the fact that the community is highly engaged, and that we are almost beyond our capacity to manage it, since we have so much participation,” she said.
“We can manage it,” Doherty interjected. “We just need more space.”
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